''Road Redemption'' is a vehicular combat racing video game developed by New Orleans-based studios EQ-Games and Pixel Dash Studios as a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to the '' Road Rash'' series. The game on PC was released on October 4, 2017. Console versions of ''Road Redemption'' were released on November 6, 2018 for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, Xbox One, and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. A mobile version of ''Road Redemption'' were released on September 28, 2022 for

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and iOS.

Gameplay

The game is a spiritual successor to the ''Road Rash'' series of racing video games. The game aims to replicate the arcade-like simplicity and silliness of the ''Road Rash'' games, while introducing more modern graphics and gameplay mechanics. In addition to the

melee weapons A melee weapon, hand weapon or close combat weapon is any handheld weapon used in hand-to-hand combat, i.e. for use within the direct physical reach of the weapon itself, essentially functioning as an additional (and more impactful) extension of th ...

featured in ''Road Rash'', ''Road Redemption'' introduces

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

in the players options for weapons as well. The game will feature

split screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split-Screen Level, a bug in the vid ...

multiplayer modes, including the computer-based ones, which is more of a rarity for the platform. The proposed Wii U version would have also featured the ability for multiplayer sessions to take place with one player on the television and the other using just the Wii U GamePad screen.

Development

In 2009, Ian Fisch, a long time fan of the '' Road Rash'' series wrote a blog post on why the game needed a revival. He had intended for the blog post to be a call for developers Electronic Arts to revisit the series, but following the commercial failures of racing/combat hybrids such as '' Split/Second'' and '' Blur'', he believed there would be no appetite for such game from an established publisher, so began working on his own take on the game. The game was first announced April 2013, alongside a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

crowdfunding campaign. The campaign raised over $173,000, successfully exceeding its $160,000 goal. While the game was funded for development, it missed the 198,000 stretch goal for a virtual reality Oculus Rift version. Paul Fisch, a developer on the game elaborated on reasons why their Kickstarter campaign did not "take off" in a piece for '' The Penny Arcade Report''. In it, he blamed the timing of the campaign launch and general crowdfunding fatigue. The game was initially intended for an August 2014 release, which was pushed back to November 2014 at the release of the alpha version in April 2014. While an early beta version was released through Steam Early Access in September 2014, the game missed its 2014 release date, and a lack of further updates in 2015 lead to fears of the game being cancelled. An update in April 2016 clarified that development was still proceeding, with a Q3 2016 release date planned for

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, macOS and Linux.

, Xbox One, and Wii U versions are planned for sometime afterwards. Initial 2016 updates did not mention the Wii U as a platform, again causing speculation towards cancellation of that particular version, but DarkSeas Games clarified that the Wii U version was still planned, but was relegated to a release window after the PS4 and Xbox One versions, citing extra work that would have to be done to get the game running on the less-powerful Wii U. In May 2018, DarkSeas Game announced they had shifted development to a

release. After the game's release, DarkSeas Game's also intends on making the game

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, allowing for people to create

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s for the game. DarkSeas Game's also teamed up with

Yacht Club Games Yacht Club Games, LLC is an American independent video game development studio and publisher founded in 2011 by former WayForward Technologies director Sean Velasco. The company announced their first title, ''Shovel Knight'', on March 14, 2013, ...

to bring their '' Shovel Knight'' character to the game as a playable character.

Reception

Pre-release

In Eurogamer's Steam Early Access review of the game, Dan Whitehead praised the game despite its quirks and glitches, stating "There are a lot of problems, in other words, and the development team has a lot of balancing and polishing to do if Road Redemption is to become a genuinely satisfying and well-rounded successor to its inspiration. Yet for all of the scruffiness, rough edges and half-baked ideas, the game works brilliantly where it matters." Polygon referred to the same early build as "a crazier, deeper ''Road Rash''" that was "as fast, crazed and violent as its obvious inspiration." The game's $40 price point for an

alpha release A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

caught criticism from some websites.

Post-release

According to the review aggregate website Metacritic, ''Road Redemption'' received "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{Road Rash 2017 video games Cancelled Wii U games Crowdfunded video games Kickstarter-funded video games Linux games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Indie video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Post-apocalyptic video games Racing video games Road Rash Vehicular combat games Video games developed in the United States Windows games Xbox One games